Car-replacing frog.



J. H. CRITES.

CAR REPLACINGFROG. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 1916.

1,223,037. Patented Apr. 17,1917.

J H-CRH'ES JOHN H. Cairns, or OILTON, OKLAHOMA.

CAR-REPLACING- FROG.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Apr--17, 191 '7.

Application filed J'une 26, 1916. Serial N 0. 106,036.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOHN H. Onrrns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oilton, in the county of Greek and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car- Replacing Frogs, tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention is a car replacing frog.

One object of this invention is to provide a pair of cooperating frogs that may be readily attached to or detached from the rails.

Another object is to provide frogs having directing elements adjacent the throat.

A further object is to provide frogs adapted to throw the wheels in either direction when the frogs are reversed.

A still further object is to provide a pair of cooperative frogs with inclined upper surfaces having grooves, the lateral edges thereof converging to a throat and forming flanges upon the edges to cooperate with the directing elements, the ends of the frogs being curved or beveled, as desired.

One purpose of this invention is to provide a frog having tie engaging or abutting members and rail engaglng members formed on the lower surface.

One practical embodiment of the invention will be described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a top positioned on a track;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the frogs;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of one of the fro s.

1% order to replace a car upon its proper track, after having been derailed, it is necessary to use a pair of cooperatingcar replacing frogs. As shown in Fig. 1,.frog A comprlses a single casting, the body of which may be termed the base member. The ends of this-frog arc of different widths and the large end with which the wheel engages may be designated generally by the numeral 5.

From this large end 5 the frog is provided.

with converging sides which terminate in a throat opening 6 and from this point the sides diverge to the small or track end 7. The lateral edges of this base member A are provided with the flanges 8 and 9 which give a certain rigidity to the base member and also act as guide elements for the wheels.

of which the following is a specifica- I distance therefrom.

plan view of the frogs ened portion 5 In the upper surface of the base member A lying between the converging flanges 8 and 9, there are formed a plurality of grooves 10, 11 and 12. These grooves, 10, 11 and 12 extend from the end 5 adjacent the throat opening 6. Disposed between the grooves are the, lands 13 and 14, which serve as spacing elements between the grooves 10, 11 and 12. These lands preferably do not extend from the wheel end 5 to the throat opening, but terminate a short These lands also serve as guide elements acting to direct the wheels toward the throat opening.

To cooperate with the throat opening 6, a tongue or directing element .15 is pivotally mounted so that its free end will cooperate with the flanges 8 or 9, as desired. The pivotal mounting 16 is preferably p0- sitioned near the end 7 of the base member A and thus serves to guide the wheels to the rails between the diverging flanges at-the track end'7. The wheel end 5 is preferably beveled or curved so that the wheels may engage more readily with the grooves or channels 10, 11 or 12 andv also with either of the flanges 8 or 9 of the lands 13 and 14.

The lower surface'of the base member A is provided with a triangular thickened portion 5 formed on its under face with a series of notches or step-shoulders, each of which has a substantially vertical face 17 and an inclined portion 18 joining the vertical face 17. The thickened portion 5 is in the form of an isoscelestriangle which has its base at the large end 5 and its apex disposed in substantially the. same vertical plane as the throat opening 6 formed 01113116 upper surface; The apex of this triangular thickterminates short of the ad jacent or inner ends of certain flanges or rail engaging elements 19 and 20 to be now described. The thickened portion 5 has a height approximately that of the rail with which thereplacer engages so that when in position the replacer will be approximately horizontal in a longitudinal direction and slightly inclined laterally.

Adjacent the small end 7 on the lower side, there are positioned two rail engaging and thusbe securely held against movement.

It will be noticed that the surface 21 of.

The side 23 of the rail engaging element 19' lies in a plane parallel to the side 2 f of the notched portion. If the'rail be positioned so that it lies against the side 22, the same edge of the rail will contact with the surface 21 of the track engaging element 19. At the same time the other side of the rail will be spaced from the surface 2% formed on the rail engaging member 20. The rail engaging element 20 has formed on it also the surface 25 which operates in a similar manner to the surface 21 formed on the rail engaging member 19, Thus the rail may be placed in two positions between the elements 19 and 20 and one side or other of the rail will contact with the side walls.

The other, track element which may be designated by the letter B is of similar construction to the base member A. As shown in Fig. 1, this member B may be provided with a tongue 26 which is provided with a pivotal mounting 27. As shown in this figure, this tongue 26 and its pivotal mounting 27 are adapted to be placed in two positions adjacent the small end 7 To provide for these two positions, the holes 28 and 29 are provided. This tongue 26 serves as .a directing element in a similar manner to the tongue 15. a

In practical operation, when it is desired to use the frogs for assisting in replacing a car upon its proper track, the frog A is brought into engagement with one rail by meansof the rail engaging elements and by means of these elements and the notched or stepped portion formed on the under side, this member is positioned between the rails, so that the rail contacts with one side of the stepped or notched portion and with certain sides of the two rail engaging elements so that it may be securely held in position. The tongue be positioned, as desired. The'other frog is engaged in a similar manner, except that it is positioned so that its small end is back of the small end of the frog previously placed, which lies between the rails. This positioning is shown more particularly in Fig. 1. This latter frog is preferably positioned outside of the track, but it engages with the other rail in a similar manner.

It will be particularly noticed from the construction that both of the frogs, when positioned, are held in a secure manner and the flanges 8 and 9 in cotiperation with the operable at the small end may grooves and channels serve to direct the wheels to their proper place'on the track. It will be noted that the lateral thrust on the frog will urge either frog over toward the corresponding rail with the side face of the thickened portion 5 against the rail, and that the frog does not have to be disposed to fit over the rail except at its forward end where the flanges 19 and 20 engage the rail. Thus the frogs may be readily put in place and the relatively long thickened portion 5" will hold the frog against the sidewise thrust to which it is subjected, which sidewise thrust is very great unless the wheels are exactly in line with the grooves 11 along which the flanges'of the wheels run. In order to prevent the raising of the forward end of the frog when the car engages the rear end of the frog, I may provide a stay bolt on the forward end of the frog which will engage with the rail and prevent the said upward movement.

Minor changes in the form and details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed is:-

A car replacer comprising a base substantially triangular in plan having a relatively broad entrance end and a relatively narrow exit end, said base being formed with laterally disposed flanges extending up from and extending entirely along the side margins of the base, said flanges being relatively laterally diverged at their exit ends and said base being further formed with laterally disposed rail engaging flanges extending down from the under face of the body at the smaller end thereof, and said body being further formed upon its under face with a thickened portion triangular in plan and less in width than the body, the base of said triangular thickened portion being approximately coincident with the wider end of the body and the thickened portion having sides extend; ing parallel to the sides of the body, the apex ofsaid triangular thickened portion being spaced longitudinally from the inner ends of the rail engaging flanges, and the under face of the thickened portion being formed with a series of teeth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JOHN H.0RITES.

Witnesses:

R. E. CAMPBELL, J. S. WARDEN.

copies of this patent, may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

